#64 Joe Lonnett

Western Pennsylvania native Joe Lonnett spent 24 years in baseball as a player and coach, signing with the Philadelphia Phillies as a free agent in 1948. He missed two seasons while serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II and the Korean War. Lonnett spent four seasons as a catcher with the Phillies, from 1956-59, batting .166 with six home runs and 27 RBI. His roommate with the Phils was Robin Roberts.

He later coached for the Pirates under friend and fellow Pittsburgh area native Chuck Tanner. He was on the staff of the '79 championship team.  He succumbed to Alzheimer's disease in 2011 at the age of 84.

#36 Ted Kazanski

Ted Kazanski played six seasons with the Phillies and had rather pedestrian numbers but he did have one fine moment in the sun. On September 25, 1955, he had an inside-the-park homer and started a triple play in a 3-1 win over the Giants in the Polo Grounds.

This page has some details about Kazanski's big day including his recollections and a newspaper account.

“I remember the triple play because it ended the season," Kazanski said. "It was the last play of the season and I think it was the last game that Leo Durocher managed the Giants. I remember that part of it. They got the first two men on. [Joey Amalfitano singled and Whitey Lockman walked.] We were winning the game 3-1. I think Bobby Hofman pinch hit. I was playing closer to second base for a possible double play. He hit a line shot right at me, I flipped to Bobby Morgan and he threw to first [Marv Blaylock] and the season was over! I don't remember the home run too much. The left and right center gaps were a mile away.”

Kazanski played quite a bit of minor league ball and was a member of the old IL Baltimore Orioles when that club was an affiliate of the Phils. He was 4th in fielding pct in the NL in 1956 which was his busiest year in the majors.

When I was assembling my first vintage set, the 1959 Topps, his card was the last one I needed to complete it and it was sent to me by fellow Orioles collector, Ed Schott. It was one of the very first of many generous card 'gifts' I've received since I began blogging and I remember it well. 

#14 Rip Repulski

Eldon John 'Rip' Repulski came up through the Cardinals system in the late 40s/early 50s. He showed he could hit for power and average. But back then a Cardinal farmhand had a long road to the majors given the strength at the top and the talent that filtered down.

Ripulski finally debuted in 1953 as their everyday centerfielder and earned himself plenty of Rookie of the Year consideration. That season he played between Stan Musial and Red Schoendeinst. He was a fixture there in the outfield for four seasons culminating with an All-Star selection in 1956. He was known as a good fielder and he hit for power although never a big slugger.

He was traded to the Phils that off-season, had his final solid season that year, and then began a slow slide in productivity. He was a member of the Champion LA Dodgers in 1959 and drew an intentional walk from Billy Pierce in his only at-bat. He finished his career with the Red Sox in 1961.

Repulski owned a bar in his native Minnesota before working for the Great Northern railroad.

#348 Chico Fernandez

Cuban-born Humberto 'Chico' Fernandez spent six seasons in the Brooklyn Dodgers' system beginning in 1951. Moving up the ladder he had hopes of replacing Pee Wee Reese as shortstop but in his 34 games with the big club in 1956 he didn't hit much. The Dodgers traded him to the Phils and he became their starter at that spot for two seasons. In 1957 he had a career best .262 average.

His numbers tumbled in 1958 as his average dropped by 30+ points. In limited duty in 1959 he continued to lose traction. A trade to the Tigers revived his career if not his average but he did handle the shortstop job regular in Detroit for three seasons. He hit 20 homers in 1962 having never hit more than six at any level prior (and never again approached double digits).

His BR Wiki page has the following tidbit: on May 8, 1963, he had the distinction of being traded twice in the same day. He was dealt by Detroit to the Milwaukee Braves, who then swapped him to the New York Mets.

Fernandez finished up his big league career with a stint with the Mets in 1963 but continued to play professionally in Mexico, Japan and back here stateside in the high minors through 1968. He worked for 20 years after baseball as an insurance agent for Met Life. He passed away in Florida last summer at the age of  84.

His is not the only Phillies player on a yellow card but it is the only one on which the yellow logo sits on the yellow background. That bugs me for some reason.

#264 Jack Sanford

Jack Sanford was coming off a terrific rookie season when this card was being pulled from packs. As a 27 year old in 1957 he went 19-8 for a Phils club that played exactly .500  baseball. He led the league with 188 K's (and 12 WP, not the last time that would happen). He made the All Star squad and grabbed R-O-Y honors.

He had been a rookie but he was no kid. He'd pitched for seven seasons in the Phils' chain and done a military service hitch. His numbers fell off in 1958 and the Phils traded him to the Giants for Ruben Gomez and Valmy Thomas. He had an solid career in San Francisco and helped them win the 1962 pennant winning 24 games. He pitched three games in the World Series that year going 1-2 but his work exceeded that W/L record. He pitched a shutout in Game Two over the potent Yankees and pitched well in the deciding seventh game as well.

As always SABR has a really well done bio posted for Sanford. A lengthy but worthwhile read.

I like the red/blue combo Topps used. It shows off the Phillies' logo well. My copy is in pretty good shape. I had to re-scan it a few times while making calibration adjustments because the orange-ish tone to the red background  keeps looking 'mottled'. I never did get it to reflect how the card looks in hand.

#145 Ed Bouchee (A Bob Lemke Custom Card)

As noted in my last post hobby pioneer, historian and custom card producer par excellence Bob Lemke passed away Tuesday at the age of 65. This is from Sports Collector's Digest which in years past he edited and published:

Bob Lemke, former editor and publisher of Sports Collectors Digest, passed away Tuesday morning, Jan. 3, at a hospital near his home in Central Pennsylvania. Those in the sports collecting hobby/business know what a towering figure he was and his influence and impact over almost four decades was enormous.

Lemke began in the sports card periodical market as editor of Baseball Cards magazine when it was launched in 1980.

In Sept. 1981 he became editor of Sports Collectors Digest. He became executive editor of SCD in Oct. 1982. In May 1983 Lemke was promoted to V.P. of Sports at Krause Publications.

In addition to his work on sports card and memorabilia collecting periodicals, he also became well known for his work on the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, considered the bible of card collectors across the country. He was the founding editor of the book and served in that capacity for around 30 years.

He had had some health issues in the last few years, some of which contributed to his decision to curtail his production and sales of his wonderful custom cards. Luckily for fans of his cards, like me, he had made them available again sometime last year. 

I was fortunate enough to have been able to correspond with Bob through the years. He had a bit of the curmudgeon in him but I always found him polite and generous. He included 'extras' in a couple of my orders. I feel somewhat guilty in that one of my first thoughts after hearing of his passing was that I still had a bunch of his cards on my 'wishlist'. 

In the back of the binders that hold my '58, '59 and '60 baseball sets I have a page that contains cards issued by Bob that supplement each set. They are nice 'companion' pieces to the original cards. My last order from Bob was for a couple of his '58 cards including this one of Phillies first baseman Ed Bouchee. Bob's intent was to fill in the gap left when Topps decided that Bouchee wouldn't be included in that set. 

You can read about the reason on Bochee'sWikipedia page. And on Bob's blog you can read about his creation of the card. 

I guess collectors of the '58 set have always had to leave a 'hole' on that page, make their own #145 or deal with the numbering being 'off'. Being able to slot a card into the '58 binder of such high quality was very satisfying.

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After three strong minor league seasons and a military stint Ed Bouchee made the majors with a splash in 1957. He hit 17/76/.293 and had a league second-best .394 OBP. He was among the Top 10 in numerous offensive and defensive categories. He finished second (to teammate Jack Sanford) in the NL ROY balloting. Interestingly he also led the league by being hit by a pitch 14 times. In his seven year career he totaled 27 HBPs so the '57 numbers exceed the entire rest of his career.

Bouchee was never quite able to replicate those rookie numbers. In him abbreviated '58 season he hit .257 with nine homers. His '59 season nearly matched his rookie year but after that he stats dropped off. He was dealt to the Cubs in May of 1960 and was picked by the Mets in the expansion draft the following year. He split the '62 season between New York and the minors and after spending 1963 in the minors he retired. He went on to work for ACDelco and retired to Arizona. He had a son, Chris, who played in the Phillies organization for a couple of seasons.

I really like that Bob did this card with a black background. That is rare in the '58 set and a nice change from the numerous yellow cards that predominate. Bob usually 'cribbed' the cartoons from other cards and re-purposed them for his customs. But his work was so painstakingly good you'd never know without him telling you. The ones he used for the #145 were perfect.

Speaking of yellow backgrounds...Bob made an alternate front for his Bouchee card. I like it but the black one feels more 'authentic' so that's the one I have in the proper slot in my 1958 Topps binder.

Every time I flip though the set I'll come across that Bouchee card and be reminded of Bob. RIP